Machine for making toothpicks.



G. R. EMBNS & W. A. BROWBR.

MACHINE FOR MAKING TOOTHPIGKS. APPLICATION FILED JULY 29, 1907.

907,979. Patented Dec.29,1908.-

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Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

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Patented Dec. 29', 1908.

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'c. R.'BMENS & W. A. BROWER. MACHINE FOR MAKING TOOTHIIGKS.

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Patented Dec. 29, 1908'.

G.- R. EMENS 6: W.-A. BROWER. MACHINE FOR MAKING TOOTHPIGKS. APPLIOATIONFILED JULY 29, 1907.

j u nun/us l I l 71:12:60., A5 in CHARLES R. EMENS AND WILLIS A. BROWER,

OF ADRIAN, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNORS TO GEM TOOTHPICK COMPANY, OF ADRIAN,MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

MACHINE FOR MAKING TOOTHPIGKS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, CHARLEs R. EMENs and WILLIs A. BROWER, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Adrian, in the county of Lenawee, Stateof Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMachines for Making Toothpicks; and We do declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to thefigures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of thisspecification.

This invention relates to machines for making toothpicks and analogousarticles, and consists in the construction and arrangement of partshereinafter fully set forth and pointed out particularly in the claims.

The object of the inventionis to provide a machine of the characterdescribed of comparatively simple and inexpensive construction, whereintooth-picks may be rapidly and perfectly made, the arrangement beingsuch that a strip of wood of the proper-size may be fed into the machineand converted into tooth-picks which are removed from the machine asrapidly as formed.

The above object is attained by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a machineernbodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 3 isa longitudinal section as on line 3-3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transversesection through the rotary heads carrying the cutting knives, saidsection being parallel with the axis of the arbor on which the heads aremounted. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view in end elevation of an upper andlower head in which the cutters or knives are mounted, showing thepassage of a strip of wood between the knives of said heads and theconversion of said strip into picks. Fig. 6 is a sectional view as online 6-6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 is a transverse section through the feedingrollers as on line 77 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view inelevation of an upper and a lower knife as positioned in the cutterheads, showing the formation of said knives which gives shape to thetooth-picks. Fig. 9 is a view showing two elevations of the completedpick: Fig. 10 is a perspective view of one of the knives.

, Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed July 29, 1907.Serial No. 386,038.

Patented Dec. 29, 1908.

Fig. 11 is a longitudinal section parallel with the main'shaft and atright angles to Fig. 3. Fig. 12 is an elevation of one of the hingedbearings in which the reciprocatory shaft is mounted.

Referring to the characters of reference, 1 designates a suitable framein which the mechanism is mounted. Journaled on the bed of the machineis the main shaft or arbor 2 carrying a relatively small belt pulley 3over which passes a belt 4, from any suitable source of power. It isdesigned that the shaft or arbor 2 shall turn at a high rate of speedand is accordingly provided with suitable bearings 5'.

We have herein illustrated a. machine provided with two sets of headsand cutters and other parts to enable two strips of wood to be fed intothe machine at a time. It is evident, however, that any number of setsof heads may be employed without departing from the spirit of ourinvention.

Onreferring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that upon shaft 2 are mounted twoheads 6 separated by a dividing collar 7. These heads are fixed to theshaft and are annular in form, being provided in their peripheries withtransverse channels in which are set the knives 8 which stand radiallyof said heads and are closely associated. The edges of said knives, aswill be clearly seen on referring to Fig. 10, are provided with U-shaped teeth or cutters 9 which give shape to the tooth-picks. The endsof the knives are provided with the projecting shoulders 10 and areadapted to be engaged by the inwardly extending flanges 11 on thecircular disks 12 that embrace the ends of the heads, as shown in Fig.4-, and are confined in place by the nuts 13 screwed onto the shaft 2against the outer disks to lock said parts together and to the shaftand. firmly secure the knives in the heads in a manner to enable them tobe readily removed. Crossing the bed of the machine on the under sidethereof parallel with the shaft 2, is a I second shaft 14 carrying thelower set of heads 15 in which are secured the knives 16 in the samemanner that the knives 8 are secured in the heads 6. The shaft 14 ismounted at its ends in-boxes 17 which are hinged at 18 to the frame.Each of said boxes is provided with a depending portion 19 ,to which ispivotally coupled at 20 the upperend of a connecting rod 21 Eachconnecting rod is suitably coupled at its lower end to an eccentric 22on the shaft 23 journaled in the lower portion of the frame. In thecenter of each of the connecting rods is a turn-buckle 24 for thepurpose of adjustment. It will be noted that by means of thisarrangement, a rotation of the shaft 23 will impart a slight verticalreciprocation to the shaft 14 carrying thelower heads, causing theknives therein to approach and recede with respect to the knives in theupper heads 6, for purposes hereinafter explained.

On referring to Fig. 5, it will be seen that the knives in the upper andlower heads 6 and 15 are so positioned that their cutting edges areinterjacent when acting upon the stock strip 25, from which the picksare formed. This relative position of the knives in said heads ismaintained by means of the meshing gear wheels 26 and 27 mounted uponthe shafts 2 and 14 respectively, carrying said heads, an arrangementwhereby shaft 14 is driven from shaft 2 in a manner to prevent anychange of the relative position of the cutter carrying heads thereon. Byreason of the interjacence of the knives in the upper and lower headswhen acting upon the stock strip in the formation of tooth-picks, theopposed knives are pre vented encountering each other as the headsrevolve and the projecting points of said knives in each head betweenthe U-shaped concavities thereof, are allowed to intersect the curve ofthe circle described by the points of the knives in the opposed head,enabling said points, because of the inter spacing of said knives to cutthrough the stock strip from opposite sides and sever said strips intonarrow strands of rounded formation, at the central portion of the completed pick 28, as shown in Fig. 9. The interjacence of the cuttingedges of the knives in the opposed heads is such as to cause aregistration of the U-shaped openings 9 thereof to form guiding channels29, as clearly shown in Fig. 8, in which the strands of the picks lie,and which in effect guide said strands in their passage between theknives. It will be understood that the margins only of the U-shapedopenings in the knives do the cutting, while the heels of the cuttingedges after the material has been cut away to give the proper shape tothe strands or icks, serve as bearings that support the pic s betweenthe knives while being acted on thereby.

To give the proper taper to the picks, th shaft carrying the lower headsis caused to reciprocate vertically, which reciprocation is accomplishedthrough the rotation of the shaft 23 by means of a belt 30 passing overa pulley 31 on said shaft, whereby through the medium of the eccentrics22, the shaft 14 carrying the lower heads is made to swing upon thehinged or pivotal points 18 of the boxes thereof and cause the knives 16in said heads to gradually approach the knives S in the heads 6 and togradually recede therefrom. As the knives in the lower heads are causedto approach the knives in the upper heads, the picks are graduallytapered at one end, as shown at 32, and as said lower knives are causedto recede from the upper knix es, the required taper at the oppositeends of the picks is formed, as shown at As the knia'es in the movablelower heads approach or pass between the upper knives, the effect is toreduce the vertical area of the openings 29 formed by the registeringU-shaped formations of the cutting edges of said knives, therebytapering the upper and lower sides of the picks, but leaving each seriesof picks connected by a very thin portion of the strand, as shown at 34.The transverse area of the openings 29 formed by the registeringU-shaped knives in the opposed heads is not materially reduced by theapproach of said knives, thereby giving to the ends of the picks a flatformation as they are tapered, as shown at 35 in Fig. 9.

In order to form picks of the proper length, it is necessary that thereciproc:ttory movement of the lower heads which effects the tapering ofthe picks, shall be made coincident with the feeding of the stock stripsinto the machine, so that a certain length of strip may be fed duringeach reciprocatory movement of the lower heads. To accomplish thiscoincident feeding of the stock strips with the reciprocatory movementof the heads carrying the lower knives which effect the tapering of thepicks, the. shaft 23 carrying the eccentrics which cause thereciprocation of said heads, is provided on the projecting end thereofwith a sprocket wheel 36 over which passes a sprocket chain 37 thatleads to a sprocket wheel 38 on the shaft 39. This shaft 39 crossestransversely the housing 40 in which the feed rollers are journaled, andcarries thereon a gear wheel 4]. which meshes with the. gear wheels 4-2and 43 on the lower feed rollers 44 and 45 respectively, thereby drivingsaid feed rollers in unison in the same direction. To transmit1110101110111, from the feed roller 45 to feed roller 46, an idle pinion47 is mounted on the transverse shaft 48 which meshes with the gear 43and with the gear 49 on the end of feed roller 46, thereby driving saidlast-mentioned feed roller in unison with the feed rollers 4-4 and 45.It is necessary that the stock strip 25 which is fed into the machine beengaged by feed rollers above as well as below, and to accomplish thatresult feed rollers 50, 51 and 52 are journaled in said housing abovethe respeeti'se feed rollers 44, 45 and 46, and are caused to turn inunison therewith by means of the gear wheels 53, 54 and 55, which meshrespectively with the gear wheels 49, 43 and 42, thereby connecting saidfeed rollers in airs so as to cause them to turn in unison. t Will benoted that the surfaces of the feed rollers are serrated so as toprevent the slipping of the stock strip while being fed into themachine. i It will be noted on referring to Fig. 7 that the shafts ofthe upper feed rollers are vertically movable and that bearing upon theopposite ends of said shafts are the vertical pins 56 which are mountedto slide vertically and whose ends extend through the top of the housing40. To apply sufficient weight to the opposite ends of the upper rollersso as to keep said rollers always "in yielding contact with the stockstrips which are fed into the machine, and afford sufficient traction tofeed said strip against the action of the knives, the arms 57 areemployed which cross the housing 40 from opposite sides, one end of eachof which is engaged in an aperture in a vertical stud 58 secured to saidhousing, and said arms near their engagement with said studs, restingupon the upper ends of the pins 56, and carrying at their outer ends theadjustable weights 59, whereby the proper pressure may be applied to theupper feed rollers, by adjusting said weights on said arms, as will bewell understood. Between the upper horizontal row of feed rollers arethe transverse shafts 60 which together with the lower opposed shafts 39and 48 assist in directing the stock strips through the feed rollers.Projecting from the forward end of the housing 10 is a table 61 on aplane with the peripheries of the lower feed rollers on which the stockstrip is placed prior to being introduced between said rollers. It willnow be understood that because of the sprocket chain connection betweenthe shaft 23, which causes a reciprocation of the lower cutter heads,and the feeding rollers which carry the stock strips into the machine, areciprocation of the lower cutter heads may be caused to occur for agiven length'of the stock strip which is fed into the machine by saidrollers, thereby determining the length of the picks that are formed andenabling picks to be made of any desired length.

To provide for severing the picks at the point 34 (see Fig. 5) betweenthe tapered ends thereof, the rollers 62 and 63 are em ployed betweenwhich the formed picks pass after leaving the forming knives. Set in theperiphery of the roller 62 and extending longitudinally thereof are theopposed knives 64 which serve to sever the picks as they pass betweensaid rollers. The roller 62 is driven through the medium of asprocketwheel 65 on the shaft 66 thereof which receives the sprocket chain 37that passes over the sprocket wheels 36 and 38. The size of the sprocketwheel 36 being half that of the sprocket wheels 38 and 65, it is evidentthat shaft 23 will make two revolutions to that of the feeding andsevering rollers, the arrangement being such that alength of stock fortwo tooth-picks is fed into the machine by one revolution of the feedrollers, while the lower cutter heads are making two verticalreciprocations and the severing roller is making a single revolution,but is caused to sever two rows of picks by reason of the two knives carried in its periphery.

To carry the severed picks from the severing rollers a set of dischargerollers is employed suitably journaled in the rear of the severingrollers, and consisting of the upper rubber covered roller 67 and thelower roller 68 running in peripheral contact. Motion is transmitted tothe roller 67 through the medium of an idle pinion 68 which meshes witha gear 69 on the shaft 66, and with a gear 70 on the shaft of roller 67.By this arrangement, motion is imparted to the roller 67 to cause it toengage and carry the tooth-picks from the severing rollers. To conveythe tooth-picks from the first set of rollers that carry them from thesevering rollers, a second set of rollers is employed which is journaledin the rear of the rollers 67 and 68 and conists of the upper rubbercovered roller 71 and the lower roller 72 in peripheral contacttherewith, These rollers 71 and 72 are driven at a higher rate of s eedthan rollers 67 and 68 through the medium of the large gear wheel 73 onthe shaft of roller 67 which meshes with the pinion 74 on the shaft ofroller 71, whereby the tooth-picks are carried quickly from the rollers67 and 68. To take the picks from the rollers 71 and 72 and dischargethem into a chute 75, a third set of rollers is employed journaledin'therear of the rollers 70 and 71 and consisting of the upper rubbercovered roller 76 and the lower rol or 77 in peripheral contacttherewith. Motion is imparted to the roller 76 by means of the pinion 78on the shaft of roller 7 1, which meshes with an idle gear 79 that inturn meshes with a pinion 80 upon the shaft of roller 76, which isdriven at the same rate of speed as roller 71. From the rollers 76 and77 the formed picks are discharged into the spout or chute and conveyedto any suitable place for boxing. The distance between the centers ofthe sets of discharge rollers located in the rear of the severingrollers, is such that full length picks are carried on' through thedischarge rollers while broken picks or picks of the shorter length fallbetween said rollers, whereby said discharge rollers serve as means forassorting the picks, preventing the delivery of any short or brokenpicks into the spout or chute from the last set of rollers.

It will be understood that the heads oarrying the cutters which form thepicks are driven at a very high rate of speed independently of thereciprocatory movement of the lower heads, and of the movement of thefeeding and severing mechanism. The rapid revolution of said heads andof the knives therein, together with the shape of the cutting ed es ofsaid knives, cause said knives to form guide ways for the strandsthrough which said strands pass while being shaped, and. afford supportsfor said strands which hold the strands to the action of the knives uponopposite sides thereof during their passage between the knife carryingheads.

While it is preferable, as shown herein, to cause the lower heads toreciprocate in effecting a proper tapering of the picks, it is evidentthat the upper heads may be made to reciprocate, if desir d, or thatboth heads may be made to move slightly toward and from each other togive to the picks the desired taper without departing from the spirit ofour invention.

Having thus fully set forth our invention, what we claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination with thestrip feeding devices, of the rotary cutter heads having their axis ofrotation in vertical alinement, interspaced shaping knives in said headsproject-- ing from the peripheries thereof between which the stock stripis fed, the cutting edges of said knives in the opposed heads whenacting upon said strip being interjacent and positioned to engage theopposite sides of the strip concurrently and the heels of said knivesengaging and supporting the formed picks.

2. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination with thestrip feeding devices, of the opposed rotary cutter heads arranged withtheir aXis of rotation in vertical alinement, interspaced shaping knivesin said heads projecting from the peripheries thereof between which thestock strip is fed, the cutting edges of said knives when acting uponsaid strip being interjacent and positioned to engage the opposite sidesof the strip concurrently, and means for reciprocating one of the cutterheads in the direction of the axis of the other head. I

3. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination with thestrip feeding devices, of the rotary cutter heads in vertical alinement,interspaced shaping knives in said heads projecting from the peripheriesthereof between which the stock strip is fed, the cutting edges of saidknives when acting upon said. strip being interjacent and positioned toengage the opposite sides of the strip concurrently, said shaping heelswhich support the formed picks, means for reciprocating a cutter head,and devices for severing the formed picks, said feeding and severingdevices being operated synknives having bearing I I I I I I I I I I Ithe interspacing chronously with the reciprocation of the cutter head.

A. machine for the purpose described, comprising devices for feeding thestock strips into the machine, rotary cutter heads arranged in verticalalinement, said heads having interspaced knives extending from theirperirmeries, the edges of said knives being provided with a series ofcutters substantially semicircular in shape, having bearing heels in therear of their cutting edges, said edges of the knives in the opposedheads when in working relation being interjacent to cause the bearingheels of the registering semicircular cutters therein to form guidechannels for the severed strands.

5. In a machine for the purpose set forth, the combination of the rotaryheads in superimposed relation, one of which is mounted to reciprocatein the direction of the axis of the other head, shaping knives in saidheads, feeding devices for feeding a strip between said knives, severingdevices for severing the formed picks, delivering devices operated fromsaid severing devices and adapted to receive the picks from the severingdevices, said delivering devices being arranged to re.- ceive and conveypicks of a predeterinined length only, an independently driven shaft,devices for reciprocating one of said heads mounted on said shaft, andmeans driven from said shaft for actuating the feeding and severingdevices concurrently with said reciprocating devices.

6. In a machine for making tooth-picks, the cmnbination with the feedingdevices, of the rotary heads carrying the shaping knives between whichthe stock strip is fed, severing devices which sever the forn'ied picksand a series of discharge rollers in the rear of the severing devicesfor delivering the formed picks from the machine, said rollers beingarranged in pairs and so positioned as to re.- ceive only picks of apredetermined length.

7. In a machine for the purpose set forth. the combination of the rotaryheads in superimposed relation, shaping knives set in said heads,feeding devices for feeding a strip between said knives, severingdevices for sovering the formed picks, and delivering devices to r ceivethe picks from the severing devices, said delivering devices beingarranged to receive and convey picks of a PIWlOiKY- l

